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Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Department of Dermatology

Rosa Ventrella, PhD

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Dr. Ventrella received her PhD in Dermatology from Northwestern University, working in Dr. Spiro Getsios’s laboratory. Her doctoral studies focused on understanding the role of the receptor tyrosine kinase EphA2, and its corresponding membrane-bound ligands, ephrins, in regulating epidermal homeostasis. Her work discovered that the transmembrane domain of EphA2 controlled the localization of this receptor to lipid raft domains. In turn, this resulted in the ability of EphA2 to interact with ephrin-A1 in trans, resulting in receptor activation, or in cis, resulting in receptor inhibition. The relative localization of EphA2 and ephrin-A1 determined the ability of keratinocytes to undergo differentiation or migration. These findings are significant, as this EphA2/ephrin-A1 signaling axis plays an important role in maintaining epidermal homeostasis and regulating wound healing.

In May 2018, Dr. Ventrella joined Dr. Brian Mitchell’s laboratory in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology at Northwestern University. Her current works focuses on utilizing Xenopus skin to elucidate mechanisms that regulate cellular transdifferentiation. The skin of Xenopus embryos contains numerous multiciliated cells (MCCs) that work to create a directed fluid flow over the epithelial surface. To generate this flow these cells become extremely specialized, containing approximately 150 evenly spaced motile cilia each anchored to a basal body and connected via an extensive cytoskeletal network. It has been proposed that MCCs are capable of undergoing transdifferentiation. By utilizing biochemical approaches and long-term live cell imaging with a light sheet microscope, Rosa have observed cilia cleavage and extrusion of centrioles from the surface of MCCs as they begin the process of transdifferentiation, each representing a distinct step. By combining these live imaging approaches with MCC lineage tracing studies, Rosa aims to better understand additional signaling pathways that govern transdifferentiation. Ultimately, this will be useful to identify the steps required for a cell to undergo transdifferentiation and alter its cellular identity.

Publications

  • Werner M.E., Del Castillo U., Ventrella R., Brotslaw E.J., Mitchell B.J. The small molecule AMBMP disrupts microtubule growth, ciliogenesis, cell polarity and cell migration. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2018 Oct 12. [Epub ahead of print].
  • Ventrella R., Kaplan N., Hoover P., Perez White B.E., Lavker R.M., Getsios S. EphA2 transmembrane domain is uniquely required for keratinocyte migration by regulating ephrin-A1 levels. JID. 2018 Oct;138(10):2133-2143.
  • Kaplan N., Peng H., Pal-Ghosh S., Ventrella R., Arvanitis C., Rappoport J.Z., Mitchell B.J., Stepp M., Lavker R.M., Getsios S. Ephrin-A1/EphA2 mediated corneal epithelial cell compartment organization is dependent on ADAM10 regulation of EGFR signaling. IOVS. 2018 Jan 1;59(1):393-406. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000).
  • Ventrella R., Kaplan N., Getsios S. Asymmetry at cell-cell interfaces direct cell sorting, boundary formation, and tissue morphogenesis. Exp Cell Res. 2017 Sep 1;358(1)58-64. Review.

Abstracts

  • Ventrella, B.J. Mitchell. “Cilia and centrioles are extruded during multiciliated cell transdifferentiation in Xenopus embryonic skin.” Cell Fate Determination 2 Poster Session. The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Annual Meeting. December 7-11, 2019. Washington, DC.
  • Ventrella, B.J. Mitchell. “Ciliophagy governs transdifferentiation of multiciliated cells in Xenopus embryonic skin.” Epidermal Structure and Barrier Function, Selected ePoster Discussion. The Society for Investigative Dermatology’s 77th Annual Meeting, May 8-11, 2019. Chicago, IL.

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